High-speed rotor



1 O. C. BREWSTER HIGH-SPEED ROTOR Filed May 11, 1948 I INVENTOR. OSWALD C. BREWSTER BY @am glad, ATTORNEYS ROTOR SPEED IN I000 12PM.

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July 15, 1952 Am: mavumnmwmmm uzEuE.

- by this-invention.

Patented July 15 952 HIGH- SPEED ROTO R Oswald C. Brewster, Lit'c'hfleld, ApplicationMay 11, 1948, Serial No. 26,349

This invention is a .method for suppressing bearing whip in high speed rotors where. the bearing is lubricated-by a film of air or other gas. I v n j High speed rotationrequires the avoidance or elimination of two condition s,,frictional resistance and whip. 1 7

Friction depends on the type of lubricant, the character of the bearing surfaces, and .the clear.- ancebetween them, and is not directlydealt with Whip is a lateral motion, oscillatory or vibratory in character, of the rotor in relation to the fixed'part of the bearing or journal; It may occur; in any journal bearing in which there is 7 clearance between the fixed and-rotating parts, a condition which exists almost universally; and

ash rule it is more pronouncedandmorelikely to occur as that clearance is increased, as well dition of extreme whip. i made-entirely evident by the noise generated, but wellshort of it there is whip which increases the resistance to 'rotation. .It ispossible with ball or rol1er.. bearings to minimize the clearance, 2. such-.anextentthat there is little tendency -to.yvhipQwhile. iirictio'n also is minimized buteven that expedient does 2. Claims. (01. sos- -e) The basic idea is to imposeja lateraigas pressure on the rotor at one side of its axis, thereby to suppress or overcome the tendency tofwhip;

I refer to this as fside air? or side air pressure." Thisrequires no. change in the bearing itself; but

only a passage through thefixed member, either journal or bearingmpeningto. the space in which the rotor turns, together. with aconnection to a. supply of gas .under'lmoderate "pressure.

h effect of this is-"striking. Withasolid steel shaft one-half inch in diameter turning in a babbitted bearing and having a. clearance of about 0.001 inch in diameter, with ainfilmlubrication, I found that I could not obtain a speed higher than about 55,000 RIP. On increasing the power applied by, -.t he small .air turbine not permit indefinite increasegbf speed; andpit s' use requires more complex and 'cOStly bearin structures'as the speed to be attained is higher.

With journal bearings, which are desirable because of theirsimplicity and lowcost, the avoidance of both-frictionandwhip is made difiicult v bythe fact that the increase of clearance which minimizes friction is the very condition that increases the tendency. to whip.- This puts a limit on-the possible speed of rotation. The problem is especially acute when air or other gas is used for the lubricant film, since such a filmis more easily broken and destructive whip occurs at a lowerspeed than with a liquid-lubricant. More: over, a gas lubricant-is compressible and admits of sudden changes of volume,- whereas a liquid or other incompressible fluidlubricant exerts a damping action. Thus the use of a gas lubricant is conducive to whip. Yet for many situations it is highly desirable to use a gas .film lubricant.

The aim of this inventionis to permitthe use of higher speeds ofrotation with-journal bearings lubricated by a film of air, or other: gas. I

running this rotor there] was increasednois'e and serious laboring with violent changes in speed making,stroboscopic{. speed determination im possible; but apparently around 55,000 R. P.'M. was the maximum speed obtained. 7 At lower speeds there was still noticeable whip. but its efiect was less serious. In contrast when side air pressure was appliedat 12 p. s. i. g., a rotor speed of 55,000 RQP. M. was obtained without whip; at 23 p. s. i. g., a speed of 100,000 R. P. M. was obtained; and'at about;50 p. s. i. g., the speed reached 187,000 R. R M. ,without production of whip.f Limitation .to that speed was imposed by thedriving means, anextremely simplevair turbine, rather tha'nb'yj'any condition at the bearing. A more carefully'balancedshaft could attain an evenhigher speed, given a suitable prime mover.

Withthe journalbearing j'ust described, operated at speeds below ,thatat which limiting whip occurs, there is present the well known wedge action in the film ofgas lubricant. .This action is due'; to the frictional drag of the rotor on the. gas. -It is the characteristicof this action that any eccentricity-.of-the rotor, caused by its own weight or by its external; mechanical load, causes the fluid to build up a pressure in the gas film in a zonejust behind'the point of minimum clearance between rotor and stator; This pressure, which has an upward gradient toward the 'point of minimum clearanoa creates the wedge action and tends to move the rotor-towarda concentric relation to thestator; which is the ideal relation from the standpoint of lubricationj and as is wellunderstood thisv action plays a vita1role in maintaining theflubricant film. The phenomenon of whip which limits the attainabIe speed involves forces which that wedge" action can not control and thlelis. an. eventual breakdown of the gas film when such limiting whip occurs.

When sideair is applied in accordance with this invention, as described above, it will be found that the rotor is held in an eccentric relation to the stator by the radial force exerted by the gas introduced under pressure into the bearing zone at one side. A wedge action is of course developed by thiseccentricity and-acts inopposition to the side air pressure. Sincefthe Wedge action is greater as higher speeds are attained,

increased side air pressure is required as in. I

the examples cited above to permit a. further increase in speed without whip. The side-air pressure, as is evident, must notbe s -great as the gas film.

The precise nature of the whole system-of 2 forces set up is not fully understood, and no theory is here advanced as to why limiting whip isj suppresse'd by the applicationof fside air as here described; but it'iis'inherent in the action, as illustrated by the example given above,that the rotoris caused torunjnan eccentric relation to the stator witharesulting' wedge action opfposing the, radial force of the applied, fside air While this iscounter to what is ideal from th standpoint oflubricationfalone, the benefit ob tained in'the way o'f injcreased speed more than compensates, and thre is still 'su'flicient lubrication as evidenced by thefact that the bear operates without overheating andwithout any frictional interference with the attainment 'of speeds exceeding thatit'o which; the.be'aring-would otherwise be .limitedby whip. 7 I n V v 7 Generally, the efiectof imposing a lateral gas pressure, on such a rotor is,;fi rst',"to permit use of a clearance which gives friction, and

v to overcome theopposing wedge action andbreah v Figure-1 is a vertical section. Figure 2 is an enlarged plan view of a spider shown as part number 32 in Figure 1.

' a 3 1 Figure '3 is a chart of rotor speed against power input in terms of the pressure of the air used to operate the driving turbine, the two curves showing the difference in operation of the centrifuge of Figure "1 with and without use of the invention in whip suppression. The cylinder 10 is a singleblock having a'central bore lined with babbitt metal H forming a bearing,surfaceoffabout '1 inch inside diameter.

The hollow rotor'l5 forms the'bowl "of-"the centrifuge, and the impeller of theg'as turbine which drives'lit. The rnain p'art of the rotor, Y g l'l,'ha'san outward supporting fiangel 6 resting' in a shallow annular recess I! at the inner riin' of -theltop of the cylinder; and abovethat it has a neck 'of reduced diameter which longitudinally fluted on its outer surface to fo'rnia 'simple'turbine imsecond, despite the relatively great clearance, to

overcome the tendency of the rotor towhip even at speeds which heretofore have been considered little short of phenomenal. At any given clear-'- ance, even a relatively small one, and without this invention, there is a limiting speed at which whip will occur, unless the clearance is so small that friction,limitsthefspeedbefore the speed of objectionable whip'is reached.) In any case where whip creates the jlinriiting condition, applicationito' such .a rotor of lateral 'gas pressure raises the" limit and p erm its rptationat' a very much higher speed; .oftenlinore than triplethe former limiting. speed. '[Where friction alone has created the limit on attainable speed, that limit likewise can be raised by increasing the clearance andby use of. thisinvention to overcome the re:- sulting Q greater tendency to whipfi, While ;in theory a hearing will operate aslong as there is any clearance'at -all, as a practical matter-"an appreciable clearance must be provided since the perfection required of the bearing-surfaces must be of a higher 'and'higher order as the clearance is reducedi Furthermore, even with more nearly perfect surfaces, friction increases with decreased clearance and frictional heating-of the'bearing may *become 'seriousxr Thus even though. ample driving poweris available-the heating-problem can become the limiting factor with small clearance and highly precisesurfaces; The invention therefore resolves the difficulties which formerly; have imposed .a quite definite limit. upon the speed of gas lubrioatedrotors in journal bearings. In consequence of this invention, itisfopen to devise a'number' of simple" ultra-highvspeed apatu suc a 'e ntri g s' gr nde s y "driers, drills, 'polishers', "etc" withoutrecourse to peller 8 The top 19' isleft' exposed to'per mit 'stroboscopic observation; This turbine'is of course quite inefficient,- but for the work to which this centrifuge is adapted'thesimplicityof 'the' impeller is a factor of greater moment th'an'is" its power requirement. g

The noz'zle r'ing' '20" fitting closel-yfaroundthe impeller 18, andrestingena number of spacer blocks 2| on top of the'cylinder, has anannular as supply chamberor manifold -'22 open at the top and coveredbyaringdisc 23soldered thereto. A series of openings '24 leading from the chamber 2 2 'tothe inner wall ofthe' nozz'le' ring for'm the turbine nozzles delivering ga under pressure at n angle agairistthefiutings or the i npe iefla. A 'n inlet passagd 25 serves to} deliver gas fto" the charnbe'rjl fror'r'f avalvedfsupply line 26.' This entire "nozzle ring YZ'O removable to 'give access tofthe centrifuge bowl for-cleaning.

'njp assage 21 leads some gas inlet, connecting with a valved supply'line 28, to the shallow recess IT in whichthe roto'rflange rests. *Gas under pressure fed through this passage resistsiend thrust and floats the rotor during operation.

The centrifuge bowlwithin the'rotor'is bottle shaped as shown. The mixture {to'be separated V is fed in through lin'e'30 extending into the neck 3|, at the bottom of which is'a 'spider'32 pressedinto the neck (see Figure- '2) which breaks the down flow of the incoming' stre'am and causes thel-iquid mixture to co'm'e'into- Contact with th'e inner wall o f the 'b owl andto be'brought up to the speed of the bowl.- "The liquid mixture travels down this in er wall' ifitd the nlarged'pa1t 33 of thebowl where it issubject'ed'to the maximum centrifugal force." The heavier solids contained in the liquid collection the wall'jwhilefthe liquid fraction flows down the wall-and over the lip, and is ;thrown outward a'n'd' downwardly against the inner wall of the" collector and discharge spout 35atta'ched'to the bottom of thecylindr HIE At one side of the cylinder I there is a gas inlet 40 leading from-a valved supply line 4| to a small longitudinal bore 42 within the cylinder. From this bore lead two vertically spaced lateral ducts 43, 44 which open to the rotor space at the surface of the journal bearing. Compressed air or other gas from line 4| is thereby delivered into the rotor space at one side and imposes a pressure on the rotor I which overcomes its tendency to whip.

It is possible to employ compressed air at a single pressure for two or all three of the pur-v poses described, impeller drive, rotor lift and whip suppression, but I prefer to control each supply separately in order to hold the optimum pressure for each use.

The rotor illustrated had an outer diameter of 1 inch and a diametral clearance of about 0.0012 inch, which is relatively great and tends to'a minimum frictional resistance and maximum whip. Figure 3 shows its operating characteristics in terms of rotational speed against pressure of the propulsion air supply at the turbine.

Curve A in Figure 3 shows operation with no side air, meaning no supply of compressed air through line 4| and passages 42, 43 and 44 to the rotor space. Speed increased with increased pressure of the propulsion air until a speed of about 20,000 R. P. M. was reached. At that point violent whip was evidenced bothby the noise and vibration of the unit and by the fact that further increaseof air pressure at the turbine produced no increase in speed. The friction of the rotor in its multitude of direct contacts withthebear n surface'put a limit on the speed and jamming was imminent. To avoid serious damage it was necessary to reduce the propulsion air pressure to lower the speed until the whip lessened'to a tolerable amount that did not break the lubricating air film, as evidenced by smooth and quiet rotation.

Curve B shows operation with side air applied from line 4| at a pressure just sufiicient to eliminate whip at each speed. The reduction in frictional resistance is apparent, even in the I range of propulsion air pressure of Curve A, forv at all pressures in that range a higher speed was attained except in the range of very low speed. The suppression of Whip is evidenced by the con- 1 tinued increase in speed as the propulsion air pressure was increased to 60 p. s. i. g. which was the maximum available. At that propulsion pressure, the speed was 74,700 R. P. M. and there was no indication of incipient whip. This represents close to a four fold increase in attainable speed with the identical centrifuge.

With a smaller clearance, and no side air, a like rotor can be made to run at speeds above 20,000 R. P. M., but the frictional resistance apart from whip is greater, and at any given power input the speed is lower than with a larger clearance when side air is applied. Working with a variety of rotors, I find that application of the side air during operation results in an immediate and substantial increase of speed, propulsion air pressure being unchanged, both when the rotor is below the speed of dangerous whip and when it is at that other- 'wise limiting speed. It is evident therefore that r at all substantial speeds whip is a deterring factor even when not so serious as to impose a ceiling on the attainable speed.

There is no evidence that the side air applied to suppress whip aids the existing air film lubrication; or that it has any eifect in common with the forcibly fed lubricants sometimes used in V bearings lubricated by oils or greases.

journal bearing at rotor speeds above that at which bearing whip otherwise is a limiting factor, which consists in applying to the rotor at one side only the radial force of a gas introduced under pressure into the bearing zone at said one side to hold the'rotor in an eccentric relation to I the stator against the opposing wedge action incident to that eccentric relation.

2. The method of running a gas lubricated journal hearing at rotor speeds above that at which bearing whip otherwise is a limiting factor.

which consists in introducing a gas under pressure into the bearing zone at one side only of the rotor and thereby holding the rotor in an eccentric relation to the stator against the opposing wedge action incident to that eccentric relation.

OSWALD C. BREWSTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 20,305 Klahn Mar. 23, 1937 808,092 Ketcham Dec. 26", 1905 1,510,657 Coleman Oct. 7, 1924 1,811,157 Schwerdtfeger June 23, 1931 2,213,107 McBain Aug. 27, 1940 2,375,269 Yeomans May 8, 1945 OTHER REFERENCES Review of Scientific Instruments, vol. 9, pp. 413-416, December 1938. 

